If you happen to’ve adopted my work, you understand I don’t pull punches when a course of is stacked in opposition to owners. During the last two years, Residents, Florida’s insurer of final resort, has pushed 1000’s of claims out of courtroom and right into a particular observe on the Division of Administrative Hearings (DOAH). On paper, it sounded environment friendly. In apply, it’s been something however truthful for a lot of policyholders.
Now the Legislature is floating HB 459 (2026), which might take that DOAH-centric mannequin and scale it throughout the market—successfully making DOAH the default area for all disputed property insurance coverage claims, not simply Residents. If we’re going to increase a system, we’d higher be trustworthy about the way it’s truly working for the individuals caught in it.
What occurred inside DOAH with Residents.
Right here’s the unvarnished view from the bottom:
- Residents has routed a big quantity of disputes to DOAH and funded the build-out to deal with them. Inside supplies and board gadgets present ramping capability and devoted budgets to run this pipeline. That raises the primary eyebrow: the get together you’re preventing can also be bankrolling the discussion board. 1
- A number of media stories, together with Residents’ personal numbers, paint a lopsided scoreboard. Relying on the time interval and dataset, policyholders have been dropping the overwhelming majority of instances or accepting nominal settlements (suppose $250–$500) to cease the bleeding. Even when Residents characterizes outcomes as “settlements,” the typical {dollars} are a fraction of what it prices to repair a roof, not to mention a house. 2
- Courts have stepped in. A Hillsborough County decide issued an order halting Residents from forcing these DOAH proceedings, with subsequent appeals and procedural maneuvering holding the battle alive. DOAH itself requested an appeals courtroom to let it resume. Translation: the legality and constitutionality of this setup are very a lot in play. 3
To me, these three info inform one story: quick isn’t the identical as truthful.
HB 459 would take DOAH statewide. However, will it’s truthful?
HB 459 rewrites §627.7015 to create a obligatory DOAH-style process for all disputed property claims. Both facet can file a petition, and an Administrative Regulation Decide has to challenge a protection resolution inside 60 days and a closing greenback determine inside 180 days, with fee or escrow to observe. The invoice additionally repeals a number of present dispute pathways (together with appraisal and the litigation framework that grew round §627.70152) and requires insurers to inform policyholders about this new course of at issuance, renewal, and declare time. Briefly, the discussion board adjustments, the timelines compress, and the previous off-ramps disappear.
Some components look good on first learn, such because the clear deadlines, shopper pamphlets, and a promise of pace. However the satan, as all the time, is in who holds the leverage and what rights the home-owner offers as much as transfer quick.
The equity pink flags I see and what would repair them.
1. Discussion board funding and independence
Residents’ paperwork brazenly describe funding the DOAH equipment for these instances. If a personal provider world adopts that mannequin, we’ll multiply the notion and perhaps the truth of a house-funded home benefit.
Repair: If DOAH turns into the statewide discussion board, the Legislature ought to fund it independently, not by means of carrier-specific contracts tied to case throughput. 4
2. Discovery and due course of
A central home-owner criticism is the restricted discovery in comparison with that in courtroom. When you’ll be able to’t meaningfully check the insurer’s place, “fast” turns into “quietly underpaid.”
Repair: set minimal discovery rights in statute with core doc manufacturing, affordable depositions on key disputes (trigger, scope, and worth), and sanctions for discovery gamesmanship. 5
3. Consequence knowledge and transparency
We shouldn’t be counting on rumors or cherry-picked spreadsheets. Florida ought to publish quarterly, case-level anonymized metrics that present quantities claimed vs. awarded, settlement bands, time to decision, illustration charges, and post-hearing fee compliance. If the discussion board is truthful, daylight will show it. Media digging has stuffed the vacuum to this point, and what they’ve discovered isn’t confidence-inspiring. 6
4. Lawyer’s charges and provides of judgment
Residents’ DOAH insurance policies imported fee-shifting dynamics from the courtroom (e.g., §57.105 and §768.79), however the bargaining desk appears completely different when discovery is skinny and the discussion board is quick. A $500 “cost-of-peace” provide shouldn’t be handled as a victory.
Repair: Calibrate payment and provide guidelines for this discussion board so owners aren’t punished for in search of a good valuation of their house repairs.
5. Scope: carve-outs for true protection denials and small claims
HB 459 retains some carve-outs (fraud, clear non-coverage, sub-$500 disputes). That’s good, however the $500 ground is outdated and invitations gamesmanship.
Repair: Elevate the ground, and mandate early impartial analysis on pure protection denials so owners don’t burn their one shot within the flawed discussion board.
So…will DOAH be truthful for non-Residents policyholders?
It may be, however provided that lawmakers study from the Residents experiment earlier than cloning it. Right here’s my threshold check:
- Impartial discussion board, impartial funding
- Actual discovery for actual disputes
- Printed outcomes that anybody—home-owner, adjuster, decide—can scrutinize
- Proportional payment guidelines so leverage isn’t constructed into the method
Proper now, the observe file from Residents suggests owners stroll in with much less leverage, see fewer instruments, and stroll out with much less cash than it takes to repair their houses. That’s not a “sooner path to normalcy.” That’s a shortcut to under-indemnity. 7
The place the courts are heading and why it issues for HB 459.
When a circuit decide halts an agency-run arbitration scheme and DOAH itself has to ask an appellate courtroom to let it resume, that’s not a blip; it’s a warning. If the present Residents setup is teetering on constitutional grounds, duplicating it statewide with out structural fixes is asking for extra injunctions, extra uncertainty, and extra whiplash for households attempting to rebuild. 8
Backside line
HB 459’s promise is pace and certainty. Owners deserve each, however by no means on the worth of equity. If Tallahassee needs DOAH to be the longer term for property claims, then make it impartial, clear, and discovery-competent. In any other case, we’re simply shifting the identical fights to a discussion board the place the deck is already stacked.
Owners pay premiums for indemnity, not for a race to the bottom settlement quantity. Let’s repair the discussion board earlier than we pressure each Floridian into it.
1 Government Abstract, Board of Governors Assembly, Dec. 4, 2024.
2 William Rabb. Residents No Longer Profitable Most Arbitration Instances. They’re Settling for Subsequent to Nil. Insurance coverage Journal. Sept. 16, 2025.
3 William Rabb. Florida Decide Blocks State Company for Residents Claims Disputes, However Insurer Appeals. Insurance coverage Journal. Aug. 5, 2025.
4 Government Abstract, Board of Governors Assembly, Dec. 4, 2024.
5 Allaire Conte. Why owners are dropping 90% of instances in opposition to Florida’s largest insurer. New York Publish. Sept. 29, 2025.
6 William Rabb. Residents No Longer Profitable Most Arbitration Instances. They’re Settling for Subsequent to Nil. Insurance coverage Journal. Sept. 16, 2025.
7 Id.
8 William Rabb. Florida Decide Blocks State Company for Residents Claims Disputes, However Insurer Appeals. Insurance coverage Journal. Aug. 5, 2025.